Jack Bourke is sacrificing his lunch hour to take some media interviews.
He is also recovering from a persistent cold, which is perhaps the product of juggling his day job with a hectic tour schedule. In spite of this, he is upbeat, though modest, about the snowballing success of City Calm Down.
The Melbourne experimental rockers have been creeping up on the music scene for some time now. Their calendar ahead includes slots at summer festivals like Sugar Mountain and Falls Festival. Adding to the momentum, their newly released debut album, 'In A Restless House', is reeling in rave reviews.
The band’s first headline tour has been met with bundles of enthusiasm and legions of new fans. “We were kind of surprised people bought tickets,” Bourke says, the group’s baritone frontman.
“Playing to rooms full of people has been really exciting and rewarding. We’re really looking forward to getting the album out so we can keep doing it.”
The four-piece has been developing its debut album for nearly three years. “We finished recording in May,” Bourke explains.
“It’s funny looking back because while it took a long time from start to finish, a lot of songs on the record came together in the last three or four months of writing. We had this exceptionally unproductive period before going into an exceptionally productive period.
“It doesn’t mean we wrote the album in three months though. We probably wouldn’t have got there if we didn’t have the time beforehand.”
City Calm Down’s debut EP, 'Movements', arrived in 2012. This synth-heavy handful of tracks was full of ghostly echoes and punchy drum beats, like Cut Copy with softer edges. 'In A Restless House' features the same shimmering sounds with an extra layer of instrumentation. There are a range of new textures seeping onto this record.
For instance, ‘Son’ opens like a church hymn weaving together organ elements and choral backing. That said, the group have retained a degree of dance-friendliness – the thrumming ‘Border On Control’ culminates in a killer chorus, while ‘Your Fix’ bursts forth as an ‘80s pop banger.
While City Calm Down are typically identified as an electronic quartet, this full-length debut brings with it some genre nuance. “We weren’t so much interested in making a dance record,” Bourke says.
“We still wanted things to have groove and to make music that people can move to. We decided to focus less on 125 beats per minutes and super bass. We also moved away from having synths fill every instrumental element outside of vocals.
“We introduced more guitar, horn sections and different sorts of keyboards. I think we’ve been trying to transform an electronically focused group into a band. We still like those electronic elements but they play a more subtle role now.”
One of the regular comparisons made about City Calm Down’s music is its similarity to New Order. From the ashes of Joy Division, the '80s innovators became legendary for pushing post-punk into an emerging dance sensibility, making some groundbreaking pop music in the process.
And the ‘new New Order’ tag isn’t necessarily the product of journalistic laziness. “Look, I would be lying if I said they weren’t a major influence,” Bourke says.
“We listened to heaps of their stuff as a group, particularly when we were starting out. However, I don’t know if we’re super conscious of New Order when writing music. Some songs pay tribute to them in a big way while others definitely don’t.”
When it came to stitching songs together for the album, Bourke finished many of his lyrics in one sitting. “I was still writing lyrics when were in the studio actually,” he says.
“In terms of process, I tend to write very loose lyrics and then once we have a clear structure or arrangement I will tighten them up. At the end of the day, the struggle for any band is to make their music feel as if the words are one with the melody.”
As the summer draws near, Bourke seems quite level-headed about the band's looming engagements. City Calm Down will be playing alongside Hot Chip at Sugar Mountain and mixing with the likes of Bloc Party and Disclosure at Falls Festival. They also have Lost Paradise on the agenda, where they will be performing in close company with Angus & Julia Stone and Jamie XX.
Will these be some of the biggest audiences the band has played to? “Yes, by a long shot,” Bourke says. “It’s sort of crept up on us but hopefully people come and see us play. It’s really exciting to play alongside bands we have so much admiration and respect for.”
'In A Restless House' is out now.
Written by Annie Murney
City Calm Down Tour Dates
Fri 11 Dec - Disconnect Festival (Fairbridge Village WA)Tue 29 Dec - Falls Festval (Lorne)
Tue 29 Dec - Lost Paradise Festival (Glenworth Valley NSW)
Sat 23 Jan 2016 - Sugar Mountain Festival (Melbourne)
Fri 1 Apr - Oxford Arts Factory (Sydney)
Sat 2 Apr - Woolly Mammoth (Brisbane)
Fri 8 Apr - Fat Controller (Adelaide)
Sat 9 Apr - Corner Hotel (Melbourne)
